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Comforts of Home

Have you ever been asked what your favourite meal was when you were growing up? Or which dish reminds you most of home? I have, and its always a close tie between my Nonna’s chicken noodle soup and Mom’s “Nouilles à l’ail” (roughly translated to garlic noodles).

In honour of Valentine’s day, and the love I have for my Mom, I made us last night a batch of my mom’s famous “Nouilles à l’ail”. The first bite of it took me back to when I was in grade school: this used to be our ultimate favourite! As a busy person, I can now understand why Mom would make this on a busy school night. It literally takes under 15 minutes to make (the time that your noodles cook), it’s healthy, and it’s an excellent way to sneak in some highly repulsive vegetable (broccoli… and to set the story straight, I’ve always loved broccoli).

So, if you’re a busy mom/person, or you have a child/adult-child that still refuses to eat his greens, I definitely suggest giving this a try! You can always tell them its a new type of green pesto, because with all the garlic and parmesan in it, you could barely tell the difference! Just a friendly FYI… be aware that this isn’t an appropriate lunch when you have to give a really important meeting, or if you’re going on a date. Unless your date eats this too. Garlic breath is a silent but smelly killer.

What you’ll need

1 head of broccoli, washed and roughly chopped into florets

half a head of kale (optional)

2 to 4 garlic cloves (I go Buffy the Vampire Slayer level with the garlic, so 3 large cloves will do)

pasta of your choice, but I highly recommend anything with grooves so that the brocoli pesto catches and coats the noodles

Wash and cut your brocoli and kale to start.

Steam your broccoli (on stove top or microwave) until you can pierce it with a fork, but not so that it’s limp (make sure it still has some crunch), then place it in a food processor with the kale, garlic, parmesan, feta, olive oil, and whiz it up until you get a chunky yet uniform consistency.

Whizzing it up really finely is a crucial step, especially if you’re trying to convince a child/adult-child that it is in fact NOT broccoli that they are about to eat.

In a big mixing bowl, combine your cooked pasta and broccoli mixture and serve it hot! Feel free to add crumbled feta or a sprinkle of parmesan. Watch with satisfaction as you’ve successfully fooled everyone at the table!

This is also a great substitution for stuffing you would use for a stuffed pasta shell recipe, replacing the spinach and ricotta cheese, or even as a type of pesto on a pizza!

2 thoughts on “Comforts of Home”

Hi Stephaine! It’s pretty close to it, and you could add some basil to it as well, but it’s definitely something else! I find that it doesn’t even taste like broccoli, if that makes any sense at all ahah! I feel like if broccoli (or whatever other ingredient) isn’t in it’s normal shape/looks like what we know it looks like, you completely lose the notion of “ew i’m not eating this because it’s broccoli”… Get what I mean?